One of the more exciting and frustrating games of the season for the Blazers Monday. The first half was nearly unwatchable and easily forgettable as Portland fell behind by as much as 16 with Philadelphia taking up permanent residence in the paint.

Andre Miller looked like an All-Star as he casually blew by Blazers defenders on countless trips to the rack. The open lane helped the Sixers hit just about every shot they attempted early, shooting 81% in the first quarter. Save for LaMarcus Aldridge's 14 first-half points, the Blazers looked jet lagged and a step behind Philly, who was wrapping up a five-game road trip and playing the second of a back-to-back. The Blazers shot 1-14 from beyond the arc in the first half.

But, "you play to win the game."

The Blazers came out of the break looking much more focused and energized as they scored eight straight to cut the Sixers 14-point halftime lead to six. As Aldridge kept Portland within sight in the first half, Steve Blake helped the Blazers inch closer with three three-pointers in the third. The Blazers outscored the Sixers by 11 in the quarter and shaved the halftime lead to just three entering the fourth.

Enter the fourth where the inspired play of Rudy Fernandez (11 points in two minutes) early in the quarter helped the Blazers capture the lead. Fernandez sparked his own 8-0 run, starting with a three from the angle, plus the foul by Louis Williams for the four-point play. Rudy followed up with a drive in the lane to the rim, drawing contact and two free throws. Add a steal and a breakaway dunk (that looked eerily familiar to the Lakers game), and Rudy Fernandez quickly put Portland ahead.

It was also in that sequence we saw the renewed Greg Oden. Oden recorded a block on the defensive end, followed by an athletic putback dunk on the ensuing play. There was a noticeable, "Yeah, I just did that" in Oden's face and step as he headed down the other end of the floor. He looks recharged since his return last week after missing 15 games.

This recharged Oden was possibly the most effective Blazer last night in one of his best games of the season. Despite only totaling 25 minutes (most in the last four games) and grabbing his fifth foul in the fourth, Oden scored 13 points to go with eight rebounds (four offensive) and two blocks. The majority of his 25 minutes came in the fourth quarter and overtime. He kept plays alive with his O boards and tips on the offensive end, while challenging shots and protecting the paint on the defensive end. Again, one of his better efforts on the season.

While on the subject of rebounding, LaMarcus Aldridge's career best 10 on the offensive glass is ridiculous. Aldridge looked to have shaken the effects of the concussion suffered last Wednesday with an all-around game of 24 points (although on 25 attempts), 12 rebounds, two blocks and a season-high tying five assists. The Blazers needed the offense from Aldridge as well as Steve Blake (22 points, five assists) and Fernandez (19 points) with Brandon Roy (12 points) suffering a rare off night offensively. Philly trapped, doubled and hampered Roy all night with physical play. The Sixers were allowed that physical play on defense down the stretch and were rewarded with free throws on offense, attempting 22 more from the line than Portland.

"I'm hearing that's playoff basketball," said Aldridge, who finished with a team-high 24 points and 12 rebounds, despite shooting 9 of 25 from the field. "There were calls that could have gone one way or the other tonight. They didn't go our way."

It also didn't help that the Blazers had trouble penetrating against the 76ers' defense and settled all night for outside shots, including a staggering 34 three-pointers. And it also didn't help that the Blazers had only moderate success shooting these outside shots.

They shot 40.6 percent from the field and made just 10 of their 34 three-point attempts.

So while the scoreboard revealed the maddening outcome for the sellout crowd of 20,620 on Monday night, lingering in the background was a slew of what-ifs.

What if the Blazers hadn't had to settle for so many outside shots and shot so poorly?

Everything was telling you that in a game like this, in a situation like this, Portland would somehow prevail. Instead, it goes down as a brutally-tough loss. I keep wanting to stop short of calling this a devastating loss, but I guess time will tell on that one. This loss, coupled with Phoenix's last-second win over Denver, means instead of counting down the magic number to clinch, we've now to got to set up an extremely crucial game against Phoenix, at the Rose Garden, on Thursday.

There is one other number in this game that just boggles the mind. The Blazers attempted 101 shots in this game- a season high. Philadelphia attempted just 74. I can't say that I've ever seen a game where you're +26 in that catagory, and lose. Basically, it means you had 26 more chances at the rim, and chances to score. If you had that in your favor, and you still lost, maybe you were just supposed to lose.

Fans who saw the game at the Rose Garden, watched on TV, or listened on the radio, are also aware that the officiating played a huge role in this game. I was in the locker room after the game, and there wasn't a moment that passed by that a reporter wasn't asking a question about questionable calls, or no calls. I could spend the next 500 words going over every one of these situations, but it wouldn't do any good.

I don't remember, really, what I was writing about last March... but it wasn't this. And I don't remember, exactly, what we were watching last Martch... but it wasn't even close to this.

[snip]

That was playoff basketball. That was a playoff loss. A playoff loss is better than a non-playoff loss and, yes, it's better than a non-playoff win. Tonight's game mattered. Take that with you and leave the ref-blaming and the excuse-making and the ho-humming behind. Nobody wants to hear all that other mess. Not after what we just watched.

- All night long, Philadelphia did as efficient a job on Brandon Roy as anyone has done all season. In the first half, the Sixers jumped every single pick and roll Roy was involved in, doubling him and forcing him to give the ball up. In the second half, Portland mercifully got him out of those pick and rolls, but Philadelphia still doubled him at every opportunity. And when the Blazers spread the floor for Roy's hope for a one-on-one chance, Philly mobbed him, making him beat two or three more defenders.

So, I'm not going to kill Portland for doing what was somewhat-expected. Andre Miller had his biweekly bout of All-Star play (at times looking like Dwyane Wade with the turnarounds and pullups, 27 points and 10 rebounds), and it's hard to keep Andre Iguodala and Thad Young (52 combined points) from looking like they're working on a Nerf hoop.

Even better, Greg Oden (13 and eight rebounds, two blocks, five fouls in 25 minutes) looked great, and Rudy Fernandez (19 points) is showing no ill-effects. Brandon Roy isn't going to miss 13 of 18 shots very often, and the road played a factor.

But this team's defense has been a question mark all year. And it's going to destroy this team's chances in the postseason if it doesn't start stopping the ball.

The Blazers are a good team - they're 44-27 for a reason - and they immediately went about whittling down the deficit in the third quarter, twice scratching back within two points before an Andre Miller free throw made it 75-72 heading into the final period.

A flurry of scoring by Rudy Fernandez, Portland's one-man Spanish Inquisition, helped the Blazers to an 85-79 lead with 8 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Fernandez scored 17 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

The Sixers refused to buckle, and forced the extra period when Andre Iguodala was fouled on a drive to the basket and sank two free throws with 20 seconds in regulation.

Even though LA was good at home, Portland was equally good. After seeing both home crowds in a week's time, there's no question Portland's crowd is 1000 times better. They clearly affected the officiating in the third quarter, and energized the Blazers for their comeback. The Sixers got a little flustered, but managed to get up, dust themselves off and answer every run the Blazers made.

It was the last game of the brutal road trip, the rear end of a back-to-back and 53 minutes were needed to decide the game. The Sixers definitely left everything on the floor tonight.

It's time to be brutally honest here. Before I say anything else, everyone give it up to the Sixers. They've been playing really well as of late and tonight was no different. They definitely went out and took this game from the start and you can see how they beat LA the other night. Tonight's game was a complete head-scratching rollercoaster ride. In my opinion it was a baffling, near-miracle that the Blazers were in a position to win this game. I will gladly give the home team a pat on the back for finding ways to stay in this one and figuring it out in the second half. But by then the odds were far too great and to be honest they didn't need to be. Not enough things happened for the Blazers to win this game. They did some really good things in the second half but it was too much to overcome. This is the type of game Philly wants to play. We didn't really dictate or take them out of anything. We didn't shoot the ball well which let the Sixers get into transition which is what we all know they do best. We let them get to the paint and the line far too often. You can't make it easy on teams and the Sixers got a lot of easy points. Portland struggled with the athleticism and length of Philadelphia on both ends all night long. Philadelphia was the aggressor from the start and it set the tone for the entire first half in which they dominated. I mean their first three buckets were dunk-dunk-layup. Dunks and layups and free throws, OH MY! You have to give credit to Philadelphia tonight they came out and won the game.